Peterborough boasts ‘most improved’ education performance in region
A report presented to Peterborough City Council has shown that the outcomes achieved by children and young people across the city has shown notable improvements in several measures.
The council’s Head of School Improvement, Nick Beech, said there was “Quite a lot of good news to celebrate” as he outlined the educational performance of Peterborough pupils in the academic year 2024-25 to members of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee on Monday (March 16).
Speaking about primary schools first, he said: “We were the most improved local authority in the eastern region for… Good Level of Development (GLD) and for combined attainment – that’s reading, writing and maths at the end of Key Stage 2.”
GLD is a measure used to assess children at the end of their reception year. It falls within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) which outlines the standards school and childcare providers must meet for the learning, development and care of children from birth to the age of five.
Mr Beech added that “The trajectory of the improvement continues in phonics, as well.”
With these outcomes representing a 3 per cent rise on those recorded in 2024, Peterborough is indeed the most improved Local Authority within the Eastern Region.
However, these results still put Peterborough below the national average by three per cent.
That said, the 2025 improvements clearly illustrate a significant narrowing of the gap to national outcomes.
Mr Beech believes the “strong trajectory across all those measures”, makes the primary education arena in Peterborough “a really striking place at the moment.”
He also noted that these achievements haven’t been the result of any kind of short-term measures or quick fixes
“This is the culmination of several years’ worth of work that is now feeding itself through into the outcomes that children are achieving when they leave primary school,” he said.
While noting how “positive and upbeat” the city’s primary schools feel right now, Mr Beech acknowledged that outcomes for secondary school pupils were more of a mixed bag. The report highlighted how provisional Key Stage 4 (Year 11) outcomes for GCSE performance in English and mathematics showed 59.3 per cent of pupils in Peterborough achieved grades 9–4 in both English and mathematics.
This was well below the 65 per cent achieved nationally.
Mr Beech did note “some improvements” however at the higher attainment threshold of grades 9–5 in English and mathematics, where 39.1 per cent of pupils in Peterborough achieved this level.
This represents an improvement of 1.5 per cent on the previous year, although the figure was still short of the national average of 45.6 per cent.
Undeterred, Mr Beech, said he believed the improvements in education performance across Peterborough means parity with national outcomes is within touching distance.
“These figures are all within reach,” he said. “We have good things going on.”
“We are making good, strong progress with our schools.”